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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Unbalanced offense hurts Eagles in 53-35 loss
Nobody scored in double digits in the Pecos Eagles’ first girls basketball game of the 2005-06 season. One person did in Game 2 and on Friday night, the Eagles got two over the 10-point mark in their home opener against the Kermit Yellowjackets.
But while Pecos got a 19-point effort by Adriana Armendariz, after a 20-point day a week earlier in Alpine, and a 12-point effort from Chantell Mazone, the rest of the Eagle squad could manage only four points against the Yellowjackets, who got 16 points out of Diana Quiroz and had seven other players score in their 53-35 win at the Pecos High School gym.
“If we do not learn how to score nothing’s going to change,” said Eagles’ coach Lisa Lowery. “Our defense wasn’t bad, but we cannot put the ball in the hole.”
Armdendariz and Mazone put up most of the shots for Pecos on Friday, and while they also missed chances, Lowery said they could have been given more opportunities on shots inside.
“I thought our posts were posting up well, and if they’re going to work that hard, we’ve got to get them the ball,” she said.
Kermit was the more aggressive team for most of the night, and also got points inside, with Quiroz scoring half of her 16 points in the opening period. That included a pair of foul shots, which also helped Kermit, as the Jackets were 7-for-10 from the line in the first half, while Pecos could hit just one of their first six foul shots, until Gabby Garcia sank a pair of free throws late in the second period.
By that time, the Jackets had opened up an 11-point lead, at 26-15, as they began connecting from the outside. Jackie Saucedo and Holly Hise hit 3-point shots in the second quarter, and Hise would follow up her shot with a lay-up at the buzzer that gave Kermit a 31-17 halftime lead.
The teams traded points in the third period, before Kermit closed the quarter with lay-ups by Quiroz and Stephanie Mitchell to widen their lead to 45-28, Kermit’s widest margin was 19 points several times in the final period, when Armendariz scored six of Pecos’ final seven points. The Eagles had a chance to score more, but came up with zero points off three fast break chances following steals.
“I think it’s so frustrating on defense to get that steal and then go down and turn it over off your knee or bang it off the rim,” said Lowery, whose team got their fourth chance at their first victory of the season on Monday, when they went to Presidio for a non-district game against the Blue Devils.
Pecos earned both their District 3-3A wins last season against Presidio. The game originally was scheduled for Tuesday, but was moved up to 4 and 5:30 p.m. on Monday. The Eagles then have the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving, before resuming play at home next Tuesday night against Stanton.
Swim team earns second, sixth at Monahans
The Pecos Eagle boys swim team was a little shorthanded for a little while on Saturday at the Monahans Swimming Invitational, but they still managed to finish further ahead of their nearest district rivals than they had the previous week at their own meet.
Pecos’ girls, meanwhile, were a little further behind one of their District 3-4A rivals on Saturday at the meet, which was won by last year’s Region I-4A champion El Paso Chapin.
Chapin took the girls’ title with 285 points to 255 for San Angelo Central’s blue team. Hobbs and another El Paso Class 4A squad, Andress, were next with 181 and 155 points, while the Eagles’ district rival Abilene Wylie beat out Pecos by 18 points for fifth, 125-107, after edging them by only one point for the No. 5 spot a week earlier. Wylie picked up 71 of their points in 1-meter diving, where no other team had an entry on Saturday.
Pecos’ boys had beaten Andrews out by one point for third place the previous week, but this time placed second to Central’s blue team with 201 points, to 149 for Andrews. San Angelo won the meet with 328 points, and Andress placed in-between the Eagles and Mustangs, taking fourth place with 178 1/2 points.
“They did pretty good,” said Eagles’ coach Terri Morse. “We pushed it pretty hard in practice this week, so I knew they were going to be a little torn down.”
Morse was happy with the effort of her 200 medley relay team, which placed second to El Paso Andress by just over a second despite swimming without one of it’s regulars, freshman Josh Elliott. “We did better than I thought we’d do without Josh,” she said, as Alonzo Garcia took Elliott’s place, after Elliott had replaced his brother Matt on the team following his knee injury in late October.
Both Elliotts were at a 4-H event early on Saturday, and Josh Elliott would return later to compete in two individual events and swim with Kyle Winkles, Matt Oglesby and Matthew Flores in the 400 yard freestyle, where Pecos placed second to San Angelo Central Blue. Winkles picked up a pair of wins on Saturday individually, taking the 100 yard freestyle and the 100 backstroke, while Oglesby won the 200 individual medley and placed third in the 500 freestyle.
Josh Elliott was second to Winkles in the 100 backstroke and finished fifth in the 100 yard butterfly, while Florez was fifth in the 50 freestyle and sixth in the 100 free, and Garcia was eighth in the 200 free and 11th in the 100 yard breaststroke. He also swam with Elliott, Hector Roman and Frankie Morin in the 200 yard freestyle relay, which placed 10th, while Roman, Luke Serrano, Brian Carrasco and Adam Medina were 13th as the 200 medley ‘B’ relay, and the same four finished 11th as the ‘B’ relay team in the 400 freestyle race. The 200 freestyle ‘B’ relay team of Jose Gonzales, Medina, Austin Vernon and Woody Tremble placed 17th.
Serrano was 10th and Carrasco 12th in the 200 medley; Tremble was 31st, Gonzales 35th and Vernon was 38th in the 50 free; Medina was 19th in the 100 fly; Tremble was 40th and Vernon 43rd in the 100 free; Medina was 14th in the 500 free; Serrano was eighth and Morin 10th in the 100 backstroke and Carrasco was 15th in the 100 breaststroke.
On Friday in the 1-meter diving competition, Roman was sixth, Gonzales seventh and Oscar Machuca placed 11th.
Pecos’ girls earned three medals on the day, two by Lindsey Shaw and one by Ashley Mendoza. Shaw took second in the 200 individual medley, and later placed third in the 100 yard breaststroke, while Mendoza finished third in the 500 freestyle, after a sixth place finish earlier in the 200 free. The two were also members of the Eagles’ 200 medley relay team, which placed fifth, and of the 400 freestyle relay team, which also took fifth.
Cassandra Matta and Neyva Rodriguez were the other two members of those relay teams. In the 200 freestyle relay, Cynthia Marmolejo, Niki Lindemann, Brittanie Rodriguez and Neyva Rodriguez were 12th. The Eagles did not have a girls ‘B’ relay entry in this week’s meet.
In other events, Matta was 5th in the 100 yard backstroke and 9th in the 100 yard butterfly while Neyva Rodriguez was 15th in the 100 free; Matmolejo was 12th in the 200 free and 10th in the 100 fly; Brittanie Rodriguez was 20th in the 100 back and 40th in the 50 free; and Lindemann was 12 in the 100 fly and 21st in the 100 breaststroke.
Sautrday’s meet was the last one of November for Pecos, and the next-to-last one for the Eagles until January. Their only December meet is in two weeks, at the Seminole Invitational.
Eagles put four on 3-3A volleyball team
Pecos Eagle junior Brittany Rodriguez was named to the first team All-District 3-3A volleyball team, while junior Amalie Herrera and senior Jessica Florez were second team selection in voting by the district’s coaches and freshman Jasmine Rayos was named as Co-Newcomer of the Year.
The team was selected earlier this month and released on Saturday, following district champion Monahans’ loss to Bellville in the Class 3A state title game at San Marcos.
Rodriguez was the Eagles’ leading hitter and blocker and earned her first all-district selection in a season when Pecos struggled, going 0-6 in district play. She played both the middle hitter and middle blocker positions, while Rayos shared the Newcomer of the Year honor with Fort Stockton’s Heather Garvin, after being called up in mid-season to be Pecos’ other middle hitter and middle blocker.
Herrera earned that award two years ago and was a first team selection as a sohpmore, before ending up as a second team selection as a back line defensive player in 2005. Florez was the Eagles’ No. 1 setter again this year, and was a second team selection for the second year in a row.
Head coach Debbie Garcia said two other Eagles’ senior Tiffany Tarango and junior Adriana Armendariz received honorable mention, while freshman Gabby Garcia and junior Jenny Palomino were Academic All-District picks. Tarango played back line while Armendaiz was and outside hitter/blocker this season. Garcia was also an outside hitter/blocker after moving up to the varsity in midseason, while Palomino was Pecos libero player on the back line this year, the first season that position has been part of high school volleyball in Texas.
Monahans’ Brittany Hughes, who led her team to their fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament, earned District 3-3A Most Valuable Player honors for the third year in a row. She was one of three Loboes seniors to earn top honors in the voting, as Candace Swarb was chosen as Outstanding Setter and Alison Miller shared honors with Fort Stockton senior Ruby Bernal as Outstanding Hitter.
Fort Stockton senior Joanna Gonzales won the other award, as Outstanding Defensive Player, while the other first team selections were made up of Monahans junior hitter Catherine Cutbirth and junior setter/hitter Bethany Willmon; Fort Stockton senior hitters Tracey Jimenez and Leslie Fierro and Presidio senior hitter Yasmine Herrera and junior setter/hitter Vanessa Armendariz.
Joining Herrera and Florez on the second team were Monahans junior defensive player Dina Ortiz and sophomore hitter Bailey Marcum; Fort Stockton senior defensive player Kayla Carrillo and Presidio senior hitter/defensive player Kelly Coffman and senior setter Jovani Villa.
Monahans head coach Patty Dominguez earned Coach of the Year honors for the fourth consecutive season. The Loboes have advanced to the state tournament each of the past four years, and have not lost a district game during that four-year span.
Effort good, scoring not for Pecos in opener
Pecos Eagles coach Art Wellborn was happy with his team’s season-opening effort against the Kermit Yellowjackets on Friday night, even if the execution left something to be desired in a 53-35 loss to Kermit on the Jackets’ home court.
The Eagles, who began the game minus five players Wellborn said would probably be on the varsity squad, were even more shorthanded only a few minutes into the game, when they top returning scorer, Lupito Bustamantes ended up in foul trouble.
“Lupito got into early foul trouble. He had two in the first quarter and probably played only six minutes in the first half,” Wellborn said. “But I was proud of the way the kids play. We were already down by 10 when he went out, but we cut in to six before they started getting away from us.”
Wellborn said the Jackets would open up an 11-point halftime lead, then widened the margin to 16 early in the third period. “We kept it about there, but we quit running our offense, and didn’t shoot very well.”
“We missed a lot of wide-open shots and we missed lay-ups,” he said. “We also missed nine free throws.”
Luis Licon led the Eagles with 12 points, which included nine three pointers and 3-for-3 from the line. But no other Pecos player was in double digits, and Bustamantes was held to only seven points on the night.
“We played good defense, even though the kids said they shot the ball over their zone. But they only scored 23 points in the first half,” Wellborn said.
Wellborn, who is hoping to get at least some of his missing players back by early December, said that several of those on the varsity Friday night also played in Friday’s junior varsity season opener, which Kermit also won by a 72-48 score.
The Eagles will have one more game before the Thanksgiving break, on Tuesday night, when they travel to Fort Stockton to face the Ozona Lions in a game at the Williams Center. Pecos then takes a week off before playing their home opener on Nov. 29 against Stanton.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
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